They of Italy Salute You
Text of James "Jay" and Piera Young's email Report
August 28, 1996
Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ! This is a general
letter to all of you who have an interest in our work in Italy and
Ukraine. Very soon, we'll be writing many of you a personal letter
which will include information as to when we intend to visit you
during our trip to the States later in the Fall of this year.
Sergey Yavorsky
We hope you have received our Spring-1996 edition of "They
of Italy Salute You", our quarterly picture-report. You will remember
our featuring the news about little Sergey Yavorsky (age 10)
who badly needs heart surgery to survive another winter. Enclosed for
you in this letter is a snapshot of little Sergey. We have SOME GREAT
NEWS to give you concerning the progress made towards the
arrangements for the surgery he needs.
A Dallas, Texas, area pediatric heart-surgeon, Dr. Jane
Kao, has generously offered her skills and services free of
charge for the operation. And the well-known
Children's Medical Center of
Dallas is willing to consider providing a significant discount in
its charges for Sergey's operation. The first estimate of hospital
costs have been stated at $10,000.00, (OUCH!!), but it seems this
figure will be markedly reduced. We need everyone's help to secure
this life-saving surgery for little Sergey. We will need to bring
him, his mother and Dr. Lena Slavuta from Odessa, Ukraine, to
Dallas for the operation. Dr. Slavuta is a sister from the Odessa,
Ukraine Church of Christ, and serves our child-sponsorship program in
Odessa as the liaison with the children, guardians and families. Dr.
Slavuta has been helping little Sergey and and his mother for some
time now; she will serve as our interpreter while the boy and his
mother are in Dallas. We originally had planned that Dima
Kolomiets serve in the interpreter's capacity, but Dima's request
for a leave-of-absence from the British Bible School was not approved
(this information was received subsequent to the printing of this
report which some of you may yet receive by U.S. Mail). Neither
Sergey nor his mother speak any English (or Italian, for that
matter!), so we'll need the services of Dima to help us with
Russian/English translation.
We are hoping the "angio-ballooning procedure" will be sufficient,
as this would permit Sergey, his mother and Dr. Slavuta to return to
Odessa, Ukraine, within just a few days time. However, if the wall of
the aorta is too stiff, thus not allowing for the needed enlargement
by the "ballooning-process", then a by-pass sort of surgery will be
required. Please join us in prayers for this operation and its many
details. We are currently looking at the second week of November as a
possible time-frame for this needed operation.
Several of you have asked about making a contribution to help
defray the costs of this operation. If you would like to make a
love-offering to help little Sergey have this life-saving operation,
you may send your gift (totally tax-deductible) to the following
address:
"Sergey Yavorsky's Heart Operation"
Mesquite Church of Christ
Attention: Frank Butler, Deacon
400 West Davis St.
Mesquite, Texas 75149
Ph. (214) 289-8657.
Annual Italian Leadership retreat
We returned last week from our work at the Annual
Italian Leadership retreat which we direct in Austria. We had a good
turn-out, as usual, and again, the Italian Christians who attended
returned to their homes in Italy refreshed not only by the
invigorating surroundings of the Austrian alpine region (and Piera's
cooking!), but more importantly everyone left "recreated" spiritually
by the many sessions of prayer and Bible study which we provided. Jay
taught ten lessons on the subject, "The Great Spiritual Lessons of
the Book of Revelation." It was, as usual, a lot of work, but to see
our Italian brothers and sisters leave with tears in their eyes, as
they repeatedly thanked Piera and me for having made a such a
difference in their lives, represents a wonderful sense of
satisfaction, indeed, knowing we had done the Lord's work well. And
we must tell you that such has been our experience across the past
four years!
And then on the final day of the event, God crowned our work there
with the safe arrival of our son, Steve, from Washington, D.C. Steve
returned home to Italy with us, but, sadly, must depart Pistoia for
Washington, D.C. tomorrow morning early. His visit has been far too
short, but we are so grateful to God who blessed us with these few
days with our son, Steve!
Back in Pistoia
We are seeking to rest a little this week as we enjoy
our son's visit, but upon our return to our "home-base" here in
Pistoia, the P.O. Box was crammed full of letters from our Bible
students across Italy! So, there's constantly work to be done. Now it
seems like three new churches might begin as a result of our work
with the Bible Correspondence Course. We hope to have more detailed
information about this wonderful development by the time of our next
communication to you.
During the month of September we are due to be with the Aprilia,
Italy, church for a series on "Revelation" for two weeks and in
Sorrento, Italy, for a public lecture at a hotel there on the
subject, "Why Christianity is the Only Revealed Religion of God" . We
will then travel to Ukraine again for most of the month of October,
and then in November we'll be coming Stateside to assist with little
Sergey's operation and make reports to many of you who so lovingly
assist us and our work with your support. We, indeed, look very much
forward to seeing as many of you as possible on the occasion of our
trip to the States this Fall. As mentioned above, we'll be in touch
again soon with many of you.
Continue to pray for little Sergey's heart operation, for the work
here in Italy and in Ukraine and for us personally. Always know of
our deep appreciation for your helping us to make a difference for
Jesus Christ in the lives of so many people in these countries. God
bless you all!
The Lord's and your servants,
James "Jay" & Piera Young
Missionaries to Europe